Man arrested after Muncie tavern fracas

An Indianapolis man was arrested Sunday night after he allegedly attacked a man outside a southside tavern.

Troy William Bell, 45, was preliminarily charged with aggravated battery, a Class B felony with a standard 10-year prison term, and public intoxication, a misdemeanor. He was being held without bond Monday in the Delaware County jail.

According to a probable cause affidavit, a large group of people, "most of them highly intoxicated," were outside Gene's Bar, 2801 S. Walnut St., watching two women fight about 7:30 p.m.

Witnesses said Bell, dating one of the women, became upset when a man tried to break up the brawl, and "began punching any male that got near him."

Police said one man was hit in the mouth by Bell and fell, hitting his head on the pavement. The man's lip was cut "all the way through," an officer wrote, and "part of the lip moved side to side as (the victim) breathed and tried to talk."

The man had also lost his two top front teeth.

Some witnesses told police they would not give statements "because they knew Bell would retaliate against them."

In February 1990, a local jury found Bell guilty of reckless homicide in the shooting death of 23-year-old Robert Jessie outside a southside restaurant.

He later received a maximum eight-year sentence from Judge Robert Barnet Jr., who called Bell a "bully" and a "time bomb."